Gurgaon: Authority to identify unplanned land, focus on affordable housing

The Haryana urban development authority (Huda), Gurgaon, has started the process of identification of unplanned land in sectors 1 to 57. The authority will develop the plots and excess land will be sold to raise funds.

The Haryana urban development authority (Huda), Gurgaon, has started the process of identification of unplanned land in sectors 1 to 57. The authority will develop the plots and excess land will be sold to raise funds.

Gurgaon, India- January 18: Vacant land at Sector 29 in Gurgaon, India, on Wednesday, 18 January 2017. Gurgaon has started assessing the unplanned and undeveloped land in almost all the sectors developed by the authority.(Photo by Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times)

As per the authority’s estimates, around 800 acres of Huda land is lying unplanned and unused at different Gurgaon sectors. Some of it is under litigation and some has been encroached upon.

A Huda official said the authority has started the process of identifying land, and wherever there is litigation and encroachments, efforts were being made to get it resolved. “The land will be identified and planned for whatever use it is needed and the rest, which could be around 500 acres, can be sold. There is an urgent need to raise resources and this is the reason that this exercise has started on priority,” Yashpal Yadav, Huda administrator, said. The land will be sold through online sale of plots that is held by the authority every week across the state.

Sources said the excess land and resources raised by land sale could also be used to launch affordable housing projects in the city. As the state government has reduced the urban authority’s role in Gurgaon, and transferred much of the development and maintenance work to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), the Huda is now expected to take a more proactive role in providing affordable homes.

There are around 8,000 economically weaker section (EWS) houses that have been identified in Gurgaon, and it is likely that these could also be developed and allotted under the affordable housing schemes across the city.

V Umashankar, OSD, GMDA, and municipal commissioner said the Huda till now focussed more on housing for middle, and lower middle class citizens, and perhaps time had come for the authority to shift priorities. “There are plans to manage the issue of affordable housing and the Huda could play an important role in this area,” Umashankar said about the future of the urban authority.